This is probably going to be a downer of a post.

 Feeling melancholy lately. I’ve had a lot on my mind the last couple of months or so. 

A few of you know I take my handsome senior boy to the vet every January to make sure his kidney issues and hypertension haven’t progressed too much. In this years visit, I told the vet he seemed skinny and I feel more and more bones when I cuddle/pet him. He doesn’t like to finish his food most of the time, even though he yells at me to feed him. The vet looked concerned, which is rare for him.  Turns out, he’d lost quite a bit of weight since last years’ appointment, but it’s hard to tell when you see something every day.

The vet told me to put him on emergency/urgent diet prescription canned food. It’s supposed to stimulate his appetite somehow and encourage him to eat. He seemed to like the two cans the vet gave me, so I breathed a sigh of relief and ordered a case (at $73, this stuff is pricey, but for my cat, I’ll manage). As soon as it arrived, I busted one can open and put out a generous helping. He ignored it, and apart from a few bites here and there, has ever since.

I feel so helpless, begging him to eat, only to have him bump my forehead and walk away.  I leave the plate out, adding a little water every now and then in case he goes back to it. After a few hours, I give up and wash the dish so it’s clean for the next meal. I’m sad to be wasting cat food every day, trying to entice him to eat. I’ll do whatever it takes, but I know that kidney problems tend to make cats nauseous, which is why they don’t eat. He still enjoys his cat treats, so instead of always tossing them on the floor/bed, I toss them into his bowl of dry food a few times a day with the hope he will eat some of that while he’s there.

He’s normal in every other way. Plays like a kitten and acts like an asshole, lol. Quality of life is still there, thank goodness. His new habit of yelling at me between 11:30pm-2am every night to feed him (right in my face while I’m sleeping!) is annoying, but I get up and do it, because I’m glad he wants to eat, even if he doesn’t finish what I give him.

He still gets around great and jumps all over the furniture and his ginormous cat condo too. I’ve noticed he slips with his back feet sometimes, but I don’t know if he’s always done that or if I’m just hypersensitive to things being wrong.

He’ll be 16 in a couple of months, so I know he won’t be around forever, which is completely and totally heartbreaking. Still my handsome boy though, thank goodness. I hope he hangs around for a while more. As I type this, he’s laying against me, purring loudly and being just the best boy. 

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and thought I’d post it, he DOES love his velvety throne!:

Apart from being thinner than usual and two white whiskers, he looks the same as always. It’s funny, I was looking through the thousands of photos on my phone and probably more than half are of him! 

Fingers-crossed he hangs around for a while so I can take thousands more.

❤️❤️